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The overwhelming majority of cases settle.  What varies is when, how and on what terms they do.  Maybe it has to do with a weakening economy, but we’re seeing a definite trend for defendants (or more likely their lawyers) to dig in their heels and fight, rather than take the sensible approach of reaching a…

Count me among the latest to question whether the Eastern District of Texas is still THE venue for bringing plaintiff’s patent cases.  A “Rocket Docket” it ain’t.

We’ve filed a fair number of cases in the Eastern District over the years.  Although things used to move with dispatch, in one of our latest, the first…

Just when it appears things can’t get much worse for patent plaintiffs, the Federal Circuit surprises us with a modest string of decisions actually finding in favor of patent holders.

Just one week after Muniauction, Inc. (pdf) took it on the chin by having its $77 Million jury verdict reversed (that’s reversed as in “you…

Competition in an open market is a good thing, or so we’ve been told. And, in an admittedly counter-intuitive way, the patent system itself promotes competition and choice by enabling small players with better ideas to compete effectively with the big boys. So why, then, shouldn’t healthy competition be brought to the realm of jurisprudence? Particularly at the appellate level? Even more particularly, how about at the level of, say, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit? Hmmm….
Continue Reading The Ultimate Monopoly

A recent blog entry at Patently-O discusses the economics of so-called “patent thickets” (which, I gather, is the new name for what used to be called “a crowded art”). There’s quite a bit of detailed and fascinating discussion concerning, among other things, the recent ebay decision and how patent owners in such a “thicket” will…

Hmmm, here’s an interesting comment I received today from concerned reader, john.bolt@gmail.com:

“And how does your view relate to the millions you spent of LizardTech’s money on patent litigation, which was unjustified to begin with and a complete loss anyway? Can you spell hypocrisy?”

Well, I can spell a number of words, but I don’t…

getting the sense that the patent system is facing serious problems these days? When I got into this game in 1983, the then-newly-formed Federal Circuit was supposed to bring uniformity, predictability and even respectability to the patent system. And it did — for a while. Under former Chief Judge Markey, the Federal Circuit’s decisions made…